Are you being asked to save money, cut your budget, and find new ways of paying for more activities? Saving money is no longer just the concern of the CFO — it’s a campuswide priority. And campus leaders are finding that any cost savings they make can free up money for cash-strapped academic departments, arts programs, student services, even pay and benefits.

 

Improving your budget’s bottom line with smarter purchasing strategies — whether you run a single department or a complex campus system — is a key step to take for savings. Yet many colleges aren’t as efficient in purchasing as they could be because they are too decentralized, can’t afford to invest in the personnel or technology to improve procedures, or just don’t know what they’re spending and how they’re spending it.

 

This Webinar will give deans, department chairs, and other administrators solid tips on how to achieve real and immediate cost savings for their campuses, including:

 

•   How to keep the suppliers you like while also cutting costs.

 

•   Techniques for taking advantage of economies of scale even if you’re a small institution.

 

•   Advice on how to get the most out of the purchasing systems you already have.

 

•   Plus advice on policy and "culture" changes that cost little to implement but can yield big payoffs.

 

 

Meet our panel, which features experts with experience working at institutions large and small, public and private:

 

Moderator: Goldie Blumenstyk, a senior writer and 21-year veteran at The Chronicle of Higher Education, whose recent Financial Affairs column examined the "unsexy" money-saving opportunities of improved purchasing.

 

Stephen Heller, an associate vice president at New York University, which as part of a broad strategy on smarter purchasing created its own "i-Buy Bob" mascot to gently encourage colleagues' support in saving the institution money.

 

Betty Roberts, an experienced college finance officer, currently at at the University of Central Missouri, who has helped large and small institutions realize savings through pooled buying and cutting red tape. An e-procurement initiative she started is expected to generate savings to campus departments of $280,000 in its first year of implementation

 

Derek Smith, a purchasing expert with Huron Consulting who has 15 years of experience helping colleges analyze what they spend and re-engineer how they spend it.

 

 

Questions? E-mail webinars@chronicle.com

Past Events

This seminar, intended for the executive leadership of UK universities, provides a timely and engaging perspective on the strategic challenges and opportunities that academic leaders face. Engage in an intellectually honest conversation about performance and competition issues in international higher education and gain a long-term perspective of how the global economic crisis will affect how universities sustain themselves, collaborate, and compete against one another.

 

The Chronicle Leadership Forum is your front-row seat for the most important national conversation on leadership in higher education. Learn from the leaders who are bringing change to higher education, discuss critical management issues with your peers, and leave with the contacts and insights you need to lead your institution to excellence.

 

At The Chronicle Technology Forum, you'll learn new ideas on how to incorporate technology into your strategy for running your institution, discover how you can keep your institution on the cutting edge, and get mission-critical insights to help you lead your institution into the future.